There's a Lot to be Said for Foreign Travel in Regard to Broadening the Palate!

[Mermaid]

I rest my case.



This is what my daughter had for dinner last Friday. This is the girl who (still) refuses to eat any meat that has a bone in it "because it's so gross, Mama." We let her loose in Italy and within a month she's eating octopus. And liking it, too! What has the world come to? Is Pippi going to be eating chicken legs next?

Would you "relax" your culinary standards if you were in a different setting than your home? As in eating oysters in Apalachicola or escargots in Paris or haggis in Scotland? Is anyone as adventurous as octopi-eating Pippi in Florence? Be honest!

 

[jamie]

When in Rome....

It actually doesn't look too bad! I remember traveling through France & stopping at a little bed & breakfast type place; they also served dinner. I just ordered the special, it was a lot easier than trying to translate the menu! My dinner came out & it was a bowl of hermit crab! Come to find out, what we think of as hermit crab aren't the original inhabitants of the shell; evidently I was eating the original owner of the shell! They were actually very good, not unlike escargot.

 

[SHELLY]

I've had quite a few "palate broadening" meals in my world travels...but nothing was quite as adventurous as a hotdog and lemonade I purchased from a Stucky's in Abilene, TX many, many years ago. To this day, I have to close my eyes while driving past a Stucky's or a sign advertising such.

 

[Susan Horn]

I remember it well, a 4-hour feast for 8 at the Jockey Club in Madrid (with much thanks to my kind parents who took me to Europe when I was in school). We all ordered different dishes and tasted each other's food; there was duck al'orange, kidney, all manner of seafood dishes, escargot, and the most memorable to me -- baby eels sauteed in garlic butter. Fantastic.

My favorite way to learn about new places is through the cuisine, and while my family of origin seem to like the high end experiences (I cannot imagine what that meal at the Jockey Club must've set them back), I prefer Anthony Bourdain's approach, seeking out the dives and little joints nobody but locals ever heard of. And I ALWAYS try to visit local independent grocery stores to bring home specialties of the area.

 

[SlowMovin]

Live palolo (sea worms) in Samoa. They're considered a delicacy and are only eaten once a year, when they swarm the beaches to breed. They look like blueish-green angel hair pasta only they're still moving.

They taste better than they sound (or look).

 

[DD]

Shelly..LOL..Stuckey's. They've never been known for their culinary delights, huh? Even the pecan logs are a little hard to stomach.

Mermy, I am soooooo with Pippi on the bones thing. I am sorry to say I might be like Charlotte in the SITC movie and have to eat pudding cups everywhere I went. I will say that I'd eat that octopus before I'd eat a chicken leg though.

 

[Susan Horn]

Live palolo (sea worms) in Samoa. They're considered a delicacy and are only eaten once a year, when they swarm the beaches to breed. They look like blueish-green angel hair pasta only they're still moving.

They taste better than they sound (or look).

Sounds like you should win some kind of prize!

 

[jamie]

My vote goes to Ken, too, Susan! I just don't think I could do it!